Frequently Asked Questions
Hey, girl! We’re always here to help, and here you’ll find some questions we are frequently asked. If you’d like to chat more, get in touch.
How can you help me?
If you’ve never seen or heard of Naturopathy before, then our services might seem a little abstract because we aren’t selling a specific product or skincare item and claiming it’s the be all end all of clear skin. Our main service is Naturopathic consultation, which is based on the foundations of treating the cause and not just the disease or symptom.
Treating a disease or symptom alone, without understanding the individual drivers, is called “symptomatic prescribing”. An example of this is being given the pill to help your acne or steroid cream to help your eczema. The pill simply shuts down your hormones and massively reduces oil production in the skin, while steroid creams quickly reduce inflammation and reduce irritation; they don’t investigate, address or rectify the internal drivers that are causing the problems to start with. This is why symptomatic treatment doesn’t provide long-term results or resolution of the problem (and often have potent side effects).
Naturopaths practise holistic health, which means that we acknowledge that all systems in the body affect one another, and we seek to treat the individual, because although you may have acne or eczema (or both), like millions of other people, your journey to those problems coming to fruition is unique to those millions of other people.
Our Naturopathic consultation process allows us to thoroughly investigate all aspects of your health, including diet, lifestyle, sleep, stress, medical history, genetic predisposition, emotional or physical trauma, current and previous menstrual history, just to name a few. This gives a clear picture of your body’s current capacity for healing, and what needs support to increase that.
We utilise functional medicine testing including salivary and blood tests to get a snapshot of your body’s biochemistry, and incorporate that information, as well as your symptom picture, into your unique and personalised treatment plan. Your treatment plan outlines what your drivers are, and how to support them in order to reach your goals of clear skin.
Your prescription will include whatever is necessary to support your body’s current biochemical state, and each prescription is unique to the individual. We utilise herbal medicine, nutritional and herbal supplements, nutrition, as well as lifestyle and stress management advice. No two prescriptions are the same, and all items that we utilise are practitioner-only, meaning they are highly concentrated and are only available to trained, qualified and registered healthcare professionals.
Can I see you face-to-face?
We operate 100% online and are loving the freedom that it gives us, as well as our patients. Patients are loving not having to worry about make up, travel time, the latest restrictions, or baby-sitting. For the foreseeable future, we will continue to operate 100% online, though we may launch the option to have a face-to-face testing consultation in our Fortitude Valley location so that we can take your biometric data, photograph your skin, and (depending on the current restrictions) give you a hug! We do have face-to-face events popping up in 2021 which is a great way to connect with our team.
How do the consults work?
All consultations happen online, from the comfort of your home or wherever you choose to seek a private little corner to have your consult. You will receive all the information you need to know about connecting with us online prior to your appointment.
I’ve done so much already for my skin, what makes this different?
Girl, we hear you!
9/10 of our patients have already been on more than one medication, usually for longer than a year, to assist their skin.
We know what it’s like to lose trust and faith in your skin ever getting better, especially when you’ve been on the not-so-merry-go-round of the Pill, antibiotics and steroid creams.
There are so many variables that affect the health of the skin, and the ones that are driving your problem skin are going to be unique to you. Even though you have the same problem as lots and lots of women out there, you don’t have the same drivers. Emily designed her signature Clear Skin Formula™ to clearly set out the drivers of problem skin, to make it as easy as possible for you to understand what needs fixing. We do a lot of functional testing to take out the guesswork, and we create a completely personalised treatment plan based around your biochemistry and your drivers, and what needs to change to correct them. Most of our patients have never even had a blood test done before they come to see us! This shows how negligent many other “solutions” are… how can your skin be corrected when there haven’t even been any tests done to investigate what’s causing the problem?
The difference with our approach is… you. We work to thoroughly understand you and your skin and your drivers. We do not sell one type of product line or skincare line, so you can be assured that we are not giving biased information or solutions about how to fix your skin in order to push whatever products we sell. In fact, we only stock our fish oil and our herbal dispensary! Everything else is prescribed to you online, which means we don’t have any reason to prescribe anything to you that isn’t 100% in your best interests because we don’t have to worry about maintaining or getting rid of stock.
This approach is different because
We go through the process to understand your drivers
We give you all the information to correct your drivers and then maintain them
We review your progress and give you a self-guide to keeping your skin clear when you don’t need to see us as frequently
Most importantly, acne and eczema are inside jobs, and we work to fix your insides
How long will treatment take?
That all depends on how chronic, severe and how many drivers there are behind your problem skin. We always outline what our expected treatment length is in your treatment plan, and always do a review of your bloodwork and progress after 6 months. Some patients work with us for less than that time, and some for more; it all depends on your drivers and how well they are able to be managed.
Some of the things that can impact your treatment time are:
How committed you are to the process and making the changes required to correct your drivers
How compliant you are with your prescription
How many items you can take in your prescription
Your stress levels, lifestyle, diet and ability to make changes to rectify them as advised
Coming off the Pill or steroid creams after longer than 6 months
The use of antibiotics and other medications which may disturb the healing work we are trying to do
Being able to incorporate topical treatment alongside internal treatment (we usually refer to skin therapists for this when you are ready)
Ultimately, we give you the awareness of your drivers and the knowledge and accountability to change them. The responsibility of doing the work all comes down to you, girl. We’ve got your back every step of the way. Like everything in life, you get out what you put in.
Can you justify your costs for me?
You are not paying for the minutes of the consultation; you are paying for the many years of knowledge and training. We spend many hours outside of your consultation working on your case, putting together your treatment, doing further research, and making sure you’re on the right track. The creation of your unique treatment plan, for example, takes an average of 3 hours outside of your consultation. The time spent on your case outside of your usual follow up consultations is on average 1 hour. Our consultation costs reflect what we know our value to be, based on our expertise + over a decade of knowledge and training. Acne and eczema is solely what we treat, so you can feel confident that we know what we’re doing when it comes to these conditions because we focus all of our attention on them. We have also priced our consultations taking into account how long we work with a patient on average. Because of our expertise and trademarked signature processes, we usually don’t work with patients for as long as other practitioners would who are not specialists in the area of skin. Our expertise is what gives us the reputation we are known for, and that’s worth a lot.
What other costs are involved?
The costs that fluctuate are the costs of your prescription. We personalise every patient’s prescription, just as we do their treatment plan. What you need in your prescription will also change depending on factors like:
If we are rectifying damage from medications
How far through the treatment process you are
How reactive and sensitive you are
How chronic and severe the drivers are
How supportive your lifestyle and diet are
If you are unwell
If severe deficiencies are found in pathology (eg vitamin D, zinc, B12)
At the start of treatment, you are usually on what we call an active prescription, which means that your prescription includes things that we eventually want to phase out and replace with dietary and lifestyle change. At the start of treatment we are rectifying drivers that have been unsupported for a long time, so we need the prescription to do a bit more of the heavy lifting. Being able to commit to your prescription is a massive part of achieving results.
Can you give me a firm understanding of how much I’ll spend?
Unfortunately not, because the only constant between all our patients is the cost of our consultations. Your prescription is unique to you, and the cost of it will be dependent on many variables + will change over time. Once we have treated your drivers and you are aware of how to maintain them, your prescription will be reduced to only daily essentials to keep your skin happy and healthy. The cost of this is minimal and is, of course, optional.
If you’re concerned about committing to the costs of working with us 1:1, then a great option for you to start with is our signature Restore & Renew program, which focuses deeply on improving the cellular health of your gut and correcting nutrition. This is a flat-fee program, which includes 4 months of supplementation. There are also payment plan options for this program. We recommend this as a starting point for people who aren’t ready to commit to the 1:1, and for those who have a history of gut issues, medication use and antibiotics, as healing the gut is the first step in reducing inflammation in the skin.
Where do I get my prescription from?
We organise all of that for you. All herbal remedies are personally blended for your needs, and are express posted to you free of charge following a consultation. Our signature E/FA Pure fish oil supplements are also posted to you from our clinic. All other items are usually prescribed to you through our online dispensary so that you can order them as you need. We subsidise shipping costs associated with the online dispensary, and you receive free shipping on orders over $175. All of the items we prescribe you are practitioner-only products, meaning they can only be supplied/prescribed by a qualified, registered healthcare professional.
What if I just want to consult with you, and not pay for a prescription?
The items we prescribe to you are like our tools of the trade - they allow us to get the changes we need. Trying to cut corners on your prescription is like trying to get a builder to build you a house but saying you don’t want to pay for the roof or the walls. The use of herbs and nutrients is essential in bringing about biochemical change. Working with us is best done when you can fully commit to the process, so that you can get the results you desire. Our process does not go on indefinitely, so rest assured that the financial and emotional commitment to it will end, and you’ll have clear skin that you can manage on your own.
How do I get in touch with you and why don’t you have a phone line?
You may not have even noticed this yet, but we don’t have a dedicated phone line for clients to call us on. Since COVID, we have evolved the way that we deliver our service so that there will be no chance of disruptions in the future, no matter what it has in store for us! One part of this evolved way of working is that our team work from different locations. This made it too difficult to maintain a phone line to the high standards that we want for our customer service. The best way to get in touch with us is via email. Email communication means that the right member of our team can respond to your message faster. We still love a chat on the phone, and we will call you from a no caller ID number to get in touch with you. If you’d prefer a phone call from our team, you can always just mention this in your email. As for our current patients, they can communicate with us 24/7 directly through our patient portal app.
Do I need a referral from a doctor or someone to work with you?
Hells no. All you need to do to work with us is to book your initial consultation. If you’d like to have a complimentary discovery call first to see if we are the right fit for you, you can book this online.
Can I work with you if I’m still taking the Pill or antibiotics or steroid cream?
Of course. Many of our patients are seeking help because these approaches aren’t working for them or they want to come off them, and many of our patients are still on these medications and don’t want to come off them. Our aim is to find what’s missing for you when it comes to clear skin. For example, some patients are on the Pill but we find they have a highly inflammatory diet and nutrient deficiencies. We can rectify these drivers without you coming off the Pill. We are here to support you where you’re at. You are a big girl and your decisions about being on or coming off medications are 100% yours to make. We can still help!
How does the testing work?
We utilise an array of functional tests to save you time and money in the guesswork of what your drivers are. Whilst we are able to request any test that we want ourselves, unfortunately we are not bulk-billed. We love that a lot of general tests are bulk-billed, and we work closely with a small network of open-minded GPs so that this is possible for you. We write referral letters to them after your initial consultation, when we are aware of what is important to be tested in your case. Any tests that are not covered by Medicare will be discussed with you before being recommended. Some tests, like salivary hormone testing, are not available through standard labs like QML and Sullivan Nicolaides. For these kinds of special tests, we use a third party lab and have testing kits posted to your house so that you can take the samples at home. These tests range from $100+ depending on what we are testing. All costs involved for testing is discussed with you before they are requested. Ultimately, spending money on tests will serve you far greater than spending money on a prescription that may not be adequately addressing your drivers. Testing also gives us a point to monitor from and give us objective clinical understanding of how well you are responding to treatment over time. Functional testing is a big point of difference in our clinic, and allows us to create the most efficient and effective treatment for you based on objective biochemical data.
What’s your usual wait time?
This fluctuates depending on the time of year, but usually there is around a 2 week wait to get an appointment with us.
How do I get started?
Book your initial consultation online!
